Games
by AliasCWN
Summary: Tully and Hitch get kidnapped


**Games**

 **By:** AliasCWN

"You guys finish stowing the supplies." Sam Troy handed Tully and Hitch the last of the requisitioned order.

"Right Sarge."

"Tully."

Tully looked at Troy.

"What's with this sudden craving for hard candy? There were three bags on the list besides Hitch's gum."

Tully blushed and ducked his head.

"Yeah. One for me. Two for me and Hitch to give away."

Troy stood waiting so Tully continued.

"Ya see Sarge, Hitch and me made friends with this bunch of local kids that hang around headquarters. We give 'em candy sometimes."

"You give them candy?" Troy looked doubtful.

"Yeah Sarge." Hitch added. "We even play games with them when we have the time. It gets pretty boring around here during the rainy season."

"Games?" This time Troy's disbelief was more pronounced.

"Yeah." Hitch grinned. "Hide and seek is their favorite . Usually they hide and we find them. Sometimes we hide though." He smiled at Tully who smiled back and nodded in agreement.

"They know all the good places and they're pretty sneaky."

Moffitt couldn't hide a smile at the thought of two grown men playing hide and seek. Seeing a small Arab child lingering nearby he turned to Tully.

"That little waif wouldn't just happen to be one of your friends by any chance?"

Tully and Hitch looked where he pointed and smiled. They waved at the child and got a shy wave in return.

"Yep. That's one of them."

Troy and Moffitt just shook their heads.

"Okay, finish loading the jeeps. Make sure they're ready to head out first thing tomorrow."

"Sarge. Do we have time for a quick beer?" Hitch glanced at Tully to ask if he wanted one too. Tully smiled and waited for Troy's answer.

"Why not?" Troy shrugged. "Just get back early so you get your sleep. We don't want you falling asleep at the wheel."

Tully and Hitch finished their beer at the tavern and headed back to the barracks. The streets were nearly empty since it was the supper hour and almost everyone had gone inside for a meal. They were talking about going to the mess hall themselves before they went back to their room.

"Wonder what's going on there?" Hitch said unexpectantly. He pointed to a cart loaded with straw sitting in the street ahead of them.

Tully slowed and studied the situation carefully.

"Looks like the wheel fell off." He indicated two men with an empty cart coming out of an alley behind them. Those men called to the ones with the disabled cart. "Guess they're going to transfer the load to the new cart."

Tully and Hitch kept walking until they were next to the broken down cart. They started to step around it when they found themselves facing two rifles. A rush of movement behind them was all the warning they had before they were knocked unconscious. As they fell the four Arabs caught them and pushed them into the empty cart. Working quickly, they blocked the view with their own bodies until they had shifted enough straw to cover the unconscious Americans. The now loaded cart was pulled down the street and into an alley as the wheel was replaced on the original cart so that it too could be pulled away.

Tully and Hitch regained consciousness to find themselves tied to a post in a dark room.

"You okay Hitch?" ask Tully.

"Got a headache." Hitch responded. "You?"

"Same."

"Sarge isn't going to be happy." Hitch stated uneccessarily.

Tully gave a short bark of laughter.

"He'll find us though." Hitch continued.

Tully glanced around the room and fervently hoped his friend was right. "That might be a while. He won't even miss us 'till morning. They may move us before then."

"So what do you think we ought to do?" Hitch tried to twist around so he could see Tully. He hated being helpless.

"Don't know." Tully answered. "We ought to leave some kind of sign to show that we were here. Something they wouldn't notice and try to hide."

"Like Kilroy?" Hitch laughed.

"Something like that." Tully said thoughtfully. "Only something that says 'us' in particular."

Sometime later, time being hard to judge in the dark, the door to the hall opened. They could see stairs by the light of the lantern being carried. Two of their four captors walked into the room followed by a third man.

Tully studied the third man intently. He didn't move like an Arab. As he came closer Tully noted his fair skin and light colored hair. But it was the German uniform showing under the Arab clothing that was the final clue.

The German squatted down beside the post and pulled some pictures out of his pocket. He grabbed each of the prisoners by the hair and held their heads so the light shown in their faces. He compared their faces to the photographs very carefully. Finally he gave a satisfied nod and stood. He said something to their kidnappers that made them smile broadly before they left the room, locking the door behind them.

"Guess that blows the chance that this was all random."

Tully nodded. "Yep. Looks like we're the ones they wanted alright."

"Bounty hunters." Hitch spat.

Jack Moffitt walked into the room he and Troy shared with a frown on his face.

"What's the matter Jack? Did they give you a hard time for waking them up?" Troy reached for his hat to head out the door. He stopped cold when he got a good look at the British sargeant. "What?"

"They aren't there Sam. Their beds haven't been slept in."

"Maybe they headed out to breakfast and already made their beds."

"No." Moffitt assured him. "I put a book on Tully's bed before we turned in. It's still exactly where I left it." The two sargeants exchanged puzzled looks. "They wouldn't stay away on their own Troy. They knew we were heading out this morning. I think we need to report this."

Troy shook his head. "We have a little time before we report to headquarters. Let's go take a look. We can check and see if the MP's picked them up." He hurried down the hall. "If they got in trouble I'll have their heads." He growled angrily. Anger was better than worry.

"I rather hope they are there. At least they'll be safe in the stockade."

Troy didn't answer, he just lengthened his stride.

Nearly two hours later they stood in front of Captain Boggs explaining their problem.

"Find them Troy! Take Sgt. Collins and his squad of MP's. Don't come back without them. If this is some kind of joke I'll court-martial them both." He dismissed the sargeants with a wave of his hand.

"Where do you want us to start looking?" Sgt. Collins had known of the Rat Patrol for some time. This was his first time dealing with them directly. He'd been warned that they were darned independent. But rumor had it that they were a very tight group. He decided to get as much cooperation as possible.

"They were going to the tavern." Troy responded. "We checked there. The owner said they left early yesterday evening. Around 1700 hours. They each had one drink so they weren't drunk. Someone saw them walking down the main street. They never made it back to their room."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay. So we can check all the alleys between there and the barracks. Sgt. Moffitt speaks the language I understand."

Troy nodded.

"He can question anyone we meet. Maybe someone saw them. Okay?"

"Let's do it." The plan was time consuming but they had few options. They spent the rest of the day combing the alleys and talking to the locals. It was dark when they all met again in front of the headquarters building. No one had found any sign of the two privates.

"Okay Troy. We'll go back to Captain Boggs and fill him in. We can look some more tomorrow if they don't show up by then." Sgt. Collins was trying to sound upbeat.

"I'm afraid that may be too late. I have a feeling that whatever is going to happen, it will happen tonight. They won't want to keep them hidden around the base too long." Moffitt didn't look at Troy as he voiced his fears.

"How do we know they haven't already slipped them out?" Troy demanded.

"We don't Troy. But none of my contacts has seen or heard anything to make them think that Hitch and Tully have been taken out of town."

"Well, none of them have seen or heard anything to tell them where they went either." Troy let his frustration spill over. "No one saw or heard anything, period. They didn't just vanish into thin air."

"Troy." Moffitt started to reason with Troy but stopped in mid- sentence. He'd spotted movement in an alley. Something small and light colored fluttered to the ground. Walking to the alley, he picked the object up and studied it before returning to Troy. Without a word, he handed it to Sam.

Sam Troy took the offering and looked up at the British sergeant with the first glimmer of hope he'd had all day.

"What is it?" ask Sgt. Collins.

"A bag for hard candy." Troy told him. "Tully and Hitch each had one."

They all turned to stare down the alley where a small body vanished around a corner. Calling the other MP's. the search party followed their tiny guide.

The child led them to a dark building in the Arab quarter. He stopped and watched as they caught up to him. Pointing to the house, he darted away before they reached him. He hid behind an abandoned cart and watched the Americans pound on the door.

No one answered their knock so it was decided to break the door down. The MP's rushed inside yelling their identity and flashing lights around the dark rooms. When it was determined that the house was empty, they did a through room by room search.

Sgt. Collins went in search of sargeants' Troy and Moffitt, He found them standing in the middle of a windowless room in the basement. The room was completely empty, not even any clutter sitting around.

"This is a bust sergeant. We didn't find any trace of your men."

"They were here." Troy stated with conviction. "We're too late. They moved them."

'How can you tell? We didn't find a thing."

Troy took his light and knelt next to a wooden support post. Scratched very faintly into the wood were two sets of numbers.

"What are those?" ask Collins dubiously.

"Those are their service numbers." Troy answered in a flat voice.

"And what's that next to them?" the sergeant wanted to know. The light was not good enough to see clearly.

"That's two s's. The Gestapo."

Collins released the breath he was holding and scuffed his foot across the floor. "Well, I guess we can tell Captain Boggs we found something. I'm sorry sergeant. This looks like a dead end. As you say, we're too late. We don't know where to look for the Gestapo around here. Your boys are probably already on their way." He tried to convey his sympathy and regret.

"Maybe not."

Troy jerked his head up at Moffitt's comment.

"It's early Troy. They would have waited for the locals to go in for the night to avoid being seen. Maybe they haven't turned them over to the Germans yet." He ran from the room taking the steps two at a time.

The others followed, not sure where he was leading but willing to go along with any idea, no matter how unlikely.

Tully Pettigrew was getting tired of being knocked unconscious. At this rate his helmet wouldn't fit over all the lumps on his head. He scowled at the four men sitting around the small fire. The desert had cooled after the sun went down and he was tied too far away from the fire to feel any warmth. The fire lit the small clearing with flickering light that barely reached the trees surrounding it. He could make out the still form of his fellow private tied to a tree to his right. He wanted to call out to Hitch but their captors had gagged them after putting them in the cart for the trip out of town. Tully worked his hands, trying to loosen the ropes, stopping on the few occasions when someone would glance their way.

Hitch still hadn't stirred but Tully could hear breathing. At first he thought it was Hitch. Then he realized that it was coming from behind him. He kept his breathing shallow as he strained to catch the sound again. He nearly jumped and gave himself away when he felt something cold being shoved into his bound hand. Someone gave him the knife and then slipped away as quietly as they had come. Tully began to saw the ropes holding his wrists.

He'd just cut the final strand when a new sound caught his attention. The unmistakable rattle of a halftrack and possibly a staff car. They were approaching slowly to keep the noise levels low. The Arabs heard them too. Three of them went to meet the Germans, calling out to them. The fourth left the fire to check on the prisoners. When he saw that Tully was awake, he turned his attention to Hitchcock.

Hitch still hung limp from the ropes. He gave no indication he heard the Arab talking to him. The guard reached forward to slap Hitch across the face. Tully saw Hitch's knee come up and catch the Arab between the legs. As the man doubled over Hitch head butted him. He dropped without uttering anything louder than a groan.

Tully jumped to his feet and ran to his buddy and started to cut him loose.

"Go Tully!" Hitch whispered urgently. "They're coming back. Go find Sarge!"

"No time. You'd be gone before I could get back. Hold still." He hacked at the ropes frantically. When they finally parted he grabbed Hitch's arm and helped him stand. Pushing the knife into his hand he shoved him toward the trees. Tully reached down and picked up the rifle the fourth kidnapper dropped. He ducked and ran after Hitch as the first bullet hit the tree near his head.

The two escapees found a hollow between a thick tree and a large rock. Ducking into the depression they exchanged grins.

"Now what?"

Tully could hear the catch in his friends' voice.

"Are you hit Hitch?"

"Just a nick. Head hurts like a bugger though."

Tully studied his buddys' face and was reassured by the smile he saw there.

"Now we see what we have to work with." He answered Hitch's earlier question. Checking the rifle he counted the shots remaining. He'd counted the Germans as they spread out around them. According to his count, he'd have to shoot two Germans with each bullet and finish the last ones off with the knife. And that didn't include the remaining Arabs.

Hitch watched him count the bullets silently. Their eyes met in understanding before Hitch smiled. He held the knife up to indicate the additional weapon. Tully grinned at his friend's attitude. They settled closer to the ground to wait for their attackers to get overconfident before they returned fire.

Tully didn't get two Germans with each bullet but he made every one count. He fired the final round and looked at Hitch. Hitch gripped the knife and looked determined. Tully reversed the rifle to use as a club. Then they waited.

A sudden flurry of shots brought shouts from the Germans. They tried to run but were quickly cut down despite the darkness. A squad of MPs' accepted the surrender of the remaining Germans and the last Arab. They did a quick body count to be sure that none were able to slip away undetected. The Germans were loaded into their own vehicles and driven into the base under guard.

Troy and Moffitt checked Hitch and Tully for injuries. Hitch had a groove cut by a bullet on his shoulder and both men sported several tender bumps on their heads. They grinned at their sargeants and at each other.

Troy found Sgt. Collins to thank him. With a big smile on his face he shook his hand. "Thanks for your help Sargeant. Tell your men I said thanks too."

"Will do Sargeant. But your boys were doing pretty good on their own." Collins nodded his approval to Hitch and Tully.

In answer, Tully handed him the now empty rifle. Hitch gave him the knife. Collins checked the rifle and his face went white. He looked up into the calm faces of the two privates, understanding the unspoken message.

"Hey Sarge." Tully ask. "How did you find us?"

Troy shrugged. "We were playing a game that brought us here."

Tully and Hitch looked perplexed.

"Yes." Moffitt continued. "Apparently your little friends like to play follow the leader too."

"We owe them a bag of candy." Troy added.

"Make that two." Tully said quietly. "We also owe them a knife." He said looking toward the knife in the hand of Sgt. Collins.

Understanding registered in the eyes of all three sargeants.

"Well, this time we won the game with their help. It was worth every drop of candy. I'll know I'll never laugh at you for playing games again."


End file.
